The Nature of Bail Decisionmaking in Maricopa County

Abstract

We have already described some features of the defendants and their cases entering the three court systems. In Chapter 6, we briefly contrasted the decisions made about each cohort of defendants and their detention or release outcomes. We found differences among the sites in the characteristics of defendants entering the court systems and in the kinds of offenses with which they had been charged. In reviewing the bail decisions made regarding the entering defendants and the subsequent use of pretrial release and detention, we again noted key differences—even between Dade and Maricopa counties, the jurisdictions with the most similar felony caseloads. For example, although the Boston Municipal Court generated the highest rate of release among its heavily misdemeanant caseload, it also produced by far the highest rates of defendant misconduct during pretrial release. Circuit court in Dade County managed to release 80 percent of its felony defendants before trial and yet still succeeded in producing, of the three sites, the lowest flight and crime rates among defendants on pretrial release. Finally, the Superior Court in Maricopa County released dramatically fewer defendants than its companion courts, about half the proportion of defendants released by the Dade court. However, the frequent resort to pretrial detention in that jurisdiction did not produce misconduct rates that were even as good as those found in Dade County.